MANUEL F. CABAL vs . RUPERTO KAPUNAN, JR., ET AL.

EN BANC
[G.R. No. L-19052. December 29, 1962.]
MANUEL F. CABAL, petitioner, vs. HON. RUPERTO KAPUNAN, JR.,
and THE CITY FISCAL OF MANILA, respondents.

Francisco Carreon for petitioner.

Assistant City Fiscal Manuel T . Reyes for respondents City of Manila.
SYLLABUS
1.
ANTI-GRAFT LAW; FORFEITURE OF UNEXPLAINED WEALTH; NATURE OF
FORFEITURE AS PENALTY. The purpose of the charge against petitioner is to apply
the provisions of Republic Act No. 1379, as amended, otherwise known as the AntiGraft Law, which authorizes the forfeiture to the State of property of a public ocer
or employee which is manifestly out of proportion to his salary as such public ocer
or employee and his other lawful income and the income from legitimately acquired
property. Such forfeiture has been held, however, to partake of the nature of a
penalty.
2.
ID.; EXEMPTION OF DEFENDANTS FROM OBLIGATION TO BE WITNESS
AGAINST THEMSELVES. Proceedings for forfeiture of property are deemed
criminal or penal, and hence, the exemption of defendants in criminal cases from
the obligation to be witness against themselves are applicable thereto.
3.
ID.; FORFEITURE OF PROPERTY IN SUBSTANCE IS A CRIMINAL PROCEEDING
FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROTECTION OF THE RIGHTS OF THE DEFENDANT AGAINST
SELF-INCRIMINATION; CASE OF BOYD vs. U.S. and THURSTON vs. CLARK, CITED.
In Boyd vs. U.S. (116 U.S. 616, 29 L. ed., 746), it was held that the information, in a
proceeding to declare a forfeiture of certain property because of the evasion of a
certain revenue law, "though technically a civil proceeding, is in substance and
eect a criminal one", and that suits for penalties and forfeitures are within the
reason of criminal proceedings for the purposes of that portion of the Fifth
Amendment of the Constitution of the U.S. which declares that no person shall be
compelled in a criminal to be a witness against himself. Similarly, a proceeding for
the removal of an ocer was held, in Thurston vs. Clark (107 Cal. 285, 40 pp. 435,
437), to be in substance criminal, for said portion of the Fifth Amendment applies
"to all cases in which the action prosecuted is not to establish, recover or redress
private and civil rights, but to try and punish persons charged with the commission
of public oenses" and "a criminal case is an action, suit or cause instituted to
punish an infraction of the criminal laws, and, with this object in view, it matters
not in what form a statute may clothe it; it is still a criminal case . . . ."

4.
ID.; ID.; CASE OF ALMEDA vs. PEREZ, DISTINGUISHED. In Almeda vs.
Perez, L-18428 (August 30, 1962) the theory that, after the ling of respondents'
answer to a petition for forfeiture under Republic Act No. 1379, said petition may
not be amended as to substance pursuant to our rules of criminal procedure, was
rejected by this Court upon the ground that said forfeiture proceeding is civil in
nature. This doctrine refers, however, to the purely procedural aspect of said
proceeding, and has no bearing on the substantial rights of the respondents therein,
particularly their constitutional right against self-incrimination.
DECISION
CONCEPCION, J :
p

This is an original petition for certiorari and prohibition with preliminary injunction,
to restrain the Hon. Ruperto Kapunan, Jr., as Judge of the Court of First Instance of
Manila, from further proceeding in Criminal Case No. 60111 of said court, and to set
aside an order of said respondent, as well as the whole proceedings in said criminal
case.
On or about August 2, 1961, Col. Jose C. Maristela of the Philippine Army led with
the Secretary of National Defense a letter-complaint charging petitioner Manuel F.
Cabal, then Chief of Sta of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, with "graft, corrupt
practices, unexplained wealth, conduct unbecoming of an ocer and gentleman,
dictatorial tendencies, giving false statements of his assets and liabilities in 1958
and other equally reprehensible acts". On September 6, 1961, the President of the
Philippines created a committee of ve (5) members, consisting of former Justice
Marceliano R. Montemayor, as Chairman, former Justices Buenaventura Ocampo
and Sotero Cabahug, and Generals Basilio J. Valdez and Guillermo B. Francisco, to
investigate the charge of unexplained wealth contained in said letter-complaint and
submit its report and recommendations as soon as possible. At the beginning of the
investigation, on September 15, 1961, the Committee, upon request of
complainant, Col. Maristela, ordered petitioner herein to take the witness stand and
be sworn to as witness for Maristela, in support of his aforementioned charge of
unexplained wealth. Thereupon, petitioner objected, personally and through
counsel, to said request of Col. Maristela and to the aforementioned order of the
Committee, invoking his constitutional right against self-incrimination. The
Committee insisted that petitioner take the witness stand and be sworn to, subject
to his right to refuse to answer such questions as may be incriminatory. This
notwithstanding, petitioner respectfully refused to be sworn to as a witness or take
the witness stand. Hence, in a communication dated September 18, 1961, the
Committee referred the matter to respondent City Fiscal of Manila, for such action
as he may deem proper. On September 28, 1961, the City Fiscal filed with the Court
of First Instance of Manila a "charge" reading as follows:
"The undersigned hereby charges Manuel F. Cabal with contempt under
section 580 of the Revised Administrative Code in relation to sections 1 and

7, Rule 64 of the Rules of Court, committed as follows:

That on or about September 15, 1961, in the investigation conducted
at the U.P. Little Theater, Padre Faura, Manila, by the Presidential
Committee, which was created by the President of the Republic of the
Philippines in accordance with law to investigate the charges of alleged
acquisition by respondent of unexplained wealth and composed of
Justice Marceliano Montemayor, as Chairman, and Justices
Buenaventura Ocampo and Sotero Cabahug and Generals Basilio
Valdez and Guillermo Francisco, as members, with the power, among
others, to compel the attendance of witnesses and take their
testimony under oath, respondent who was personally present at the
time before the Committee in compliance with a subpoena duly issued
to him, did then and there willfully, unlawfully, and contumaciously,
without any justiable cause or reason, refuse and fail and still refuse
and fail to obey the lawful order of the Committee to take the witness
stand, be sworn and testify as witness in said investigation, in utter
disregard of the lawful authority of the Committee and thereby
obstructing and degrading the proceedings before said body.'
"Wherefore, it is respectfully prayed that respondent be summarily adjudged
guilty of contempt of the Presidential Committee and accordingly disciplined
as in contempt of court by imprisonment until such time as he shall obey the
subject order of said Committee."

This charge, docketed as Criminal Case No. 60111 of said court, was assigned to
Branch XVIII thereof, presided over by respondent Judge. On October 2, 1961, the
latter issued an order requiring petitioner to show cause and/or answer the charge
led against him within ten (10) days. Soon thereafter, or on October 4, 1961,
petitioner led with respondent Judge a motion to quash the charge and/or order to
show cause, upon the ground: (1) that the City Fiscal has neither authority nor
personality to le said charge and the same is null and void, for, if criminal, the
charge has been led without a preliminary investigation, and, if civil, the City
Fiscal may not le it, his authority in respect of civil cases being limited to
representing the City of Manila; (2) that the facts charged constitute no oense, for
section 580 of the Revised Administrative Code, upon which the charge is based,
violates due process, in that it is vague and uncertain as regards the oense therein
dened and the ne imposable therefor and that it fails to specify whether said
oense shall be treated as contempt of an inferior court or of a superior court; (3)
that more than one oense is charged, for the contempt imputed to petitioner is
sought to be punished as contempt of an inferior court, as contempt of a superior
court and as contempt under section 7 of Rule 64 of the Rules of Court; (4) that the
Committee had no power to order and require petitioner to take the witness stand
and be sworn to, upon the request of Col. Maristela, as witness for the latter,
inasmuch as said order violates petitioner's constitutional right against selfincrimination.
By resolution dated October 14, 1961, respondent Judge denied said motion to
quash. Thereupon, or on October 20, 1961, petitioner began the present action for

the purpose adverted to above, alleging that, unless restrained by this Court,
respondent Judge may summarily punish him for contempt, and that such action
would not be appealable.
In their answer, respondents herein allege, inter alia, that the investigation being
conducted by the Committee above referred to is administrative, not criminal, in
nature; that the legal provision relied upon by petitioner in relation to preliminary
investigations (Section 38-C, Republic Act No. 409, as amended by Republic Act No.
1201) is inapplicable to contempt proceedings; that, under section 580, of the
Revised Administrative Code, contempt against an administrative ocer is to be
dealt with as contempt of a superior court; that petitioner herein is charged with
only one oense; and that, under the constitutional guarantee against selfincrimination, petitioner herein may refuse, not to take the witness stand, but to
answer incriminatory questions.
At the outset, it is not disputed that the accused in a criminal case may refuse, not
only to answer incriminatory questions, but, also, to take the witness stand (3
Wharton's Criminal Evidence, pp. 1959-1960; 98 C.J.S., p. 264). Hence, the issue
before us boils down to whether or not the proceedings before the aforementioned
Committee is civil or criminal in character.

In this connection, it should be noted that, although said Committee was created to
investigate the administrative charge of unexplained wealth, there seems to be no
question that Col. Maristela does not seek the removal of petitioner herein as Chief
of Sta of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. As a matter of fact he no longer holds
such oce. It seems, likewise, conceded that the purpose of the charge against
petitioner is to apply the provisions of Republic Act No. 1379, as amended,
otherwise known as the Anti-Graft Law, which authorizes the forfeiture to the State
of property of a public ocer or employee which is manifestly out of proportion to
his salary as such public ocer or employee and his other lawful income and the
income from legitimately acquired property. Such forfeiture has been held,
however, to partake of the nature of a penalty.
"In a strict signication, a forfeiture is a divestiture of property without
compensation, in consequence of a default or an oense, and the term is
used in such a sense in this article. A forfeiture, as thus dened, is imposed
by way of punishment not by the mere convention of the parties, but by the
lawmaking power, to insure a prescribed course of conduct. It is a method
deemed necessary by the legislature to restrain the commission of an
offense and to aid in the prevention of such an oense . The eect of such a
forfeiture is to transfer the title to the specic thing from the owner to the
sovereign power (23 Am. Jur. 599) (Emphasis ours.)
"In Black's Law Dictionary a 'forfeiture' is dened to be 'the incurring of a
liability to pay a denite sum of money as the consequence of violating the
provisions of some statute or refusal to comply with some requirement of
law.' It may be said to be a penalty imposed for misconduct or breach of

duty.'" (Com. vs. French, 114 S.W. 255.)

As a consequence, proceedings for forfeiture of property are deemed criminal or

penal, and, hence, the exemption of defendants in criminal case from the obligation
to be witnesses against themselves are applicable thereto.
"Generally speaking, informations for the forfeiture of goods that seek no
judgment of ne or imprisonment against any person are deemed to be civil
proceedings in rem. Such proceedings are criminal in nature to the extent
that where the person using the res illegally is the owner of rightful
possessor of it, the forfeiture proceeding is in the nature of a punishment.
They have been held to be so far in the nature of criminal proceedings that a
general verdict on several counts in an information is upheld if one count is
good. According to the authorities such proceedings, where the owner of
the property appears, are so far considered as quasicriminal proceedings as
to relieve the owner from being a witness against himself and to prevent the
compulsory production of his books and papers . . . ." (23 Am. Jur. 612;
Emphasis ours.)
"Although the contrary view formerly obtained, the later decisions are to the
eect that suits for forfeitures incurred by the commission of oenses
against the law are so far of a quasi-criminal nature as to be within the
reason of criminal proceedings for all purposes of . . . that portion of the
Fifth Amendment which declares that no person shall be compelled in any
criminal case to be a witness against himself . . . . It has frequently been held
upon constitutional grounds under the various State Constitution that a
witness or party called as a witness cannot be made to testify against
himself as to matters which would subject his property to forfeiture. At early
common law no person could be compelled to testify against himself or to
answer any question which would have had a tendency to expose his
property to a forfeiture, or to form a link in a chain of evidence for that
purpose as well as to incriminate him. Under this common-law doctrine of
protection against compulsory disclosures which would tend to subject the
witness to a forfeiture, such protection was claimed and availed of in some
early American cases without placing the basis of the protection upon
constitutional grounds." (23 Am. Jur. 616; Emphasis ours.)
"Proceedings for forfeitures are generally considered to be civil and in the
nature of proceedings in rem. The statute providing that no judgment or
other proceedings in civil cases shall be arrested or reversed for any defect
or want of form is applicable to them. In some aspects, however, suits for
penalties and forfeitures are of quasi-criminal nature and within the reason
of criminal proceedings for all the purposes of . . . that portion of the Fifth
Amendment which declares that no person shall be compelled in any criminal
case to be a witness against himself . The proceeding is one against the
owner, as well as against the goods; for it is his breach of the laws which
has to be proved to establish the forfeiture and his property is sought to be
forfeited." (15 Am. Jur., Sec. 104, p. 368; Emphasis ours.)
"The rule protecting a person from being compelled to furnish evidence
which would incriminate him exists not only when he is liable criminally to

prosecution and punishment, but also when his answer would tend to
expose him to a . . . forfeiture . . . (58 Am. Jur., Sec. 43, p. 48; Emphasis
ours.)
"As already observed, the various constitutions provide that no person shall
be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself. This
prohibition against compelling a person to take the stand as a witness
against himself applies only to criminal, quasi-criminal, and penal
proceedings, including a proceeding civil in form for forfeiture of property by
reason of the commission of an oense, but not a proceeding in which the
penalty recoverable is civil or remedial in nature, . . ." (58 Am. Jur., Sec. 44,
p. 49; Emphasis ours.)
"The privilege of a witness not to incriminate himself is not infringed by
merely asking the witness a question which he refuses to answer. The
privilege is simply an option of refusal, and not a prohibition of inquiry. A
question is not improper merely because the answer may tend to criminate
but, where a witness exercises his constitutional right not to answer, a
question by counsel as to whether the reason for refusing to answer is
because the answer may tend to incriminate the witness is improper.
"The possibility that the examination of the witness will be pursued to the
extent of requiring self incrimination will not justify the refusal to answer
questions. However, where the position of the witness is virtually that of an
accused on trial, it would appear that he may invoke the privilege in support
of a blanket refusal to answer one and all questions ." (98 C.J.S., p. 252;
Emphasis ours.)
"A person may not be compelled to testify in an action against him for a
penalty or to answer any question as a witness which would subject him to a
penalty or forfeiture, where the penalty or forfeiture is imposed as a
vindication of the public justice of the state.
"In general, both at common law and under a constitutional provision against
compulsory self-incrimination, a person may not be compelled to answer
any question as a witness which would subject him to a penalty or forfeiture,
or testify in an action against him for a penalty.
"The privilege applies where the penalty or forfeiture is recoverable, or is
imposed in vindication of the public justice of the state, as a statutory ne or
penalty, or a ne or penalty for violation of a municipal ordinance, even
though the action or proceeding for its enforcement is not brought in a
criminal court but is prosecuted through the modes of procedure applicable
to an ordinary civil remedy." (98 C.J.S., pp. 275-6.)

Thus, in Boyd vs. U.S. (116 U.S. 616, 29 L. ed. 746), it was held that the
information, in a proceeding to declare a forfeiture of certain property because of
the evasion of a certain revenue law, "though technically a civil proceeding, is in
substance and eect a criminal one", and that suits for penalties and forfeitures are
within the reason of criminal proceedings for the purposes of that portion of the
Fifth Amendment of the Constitution of the U.S. which declares that no person shall

be compelled in a criminal case to be a witness against himself. Similarly, a

proceeding for the removal of an ocer was held, in Thurston vs. Clark (107 Cal.
285, 40 pp. 435, 437), to be in substance criminal, for said portion of the Fifth
Amendment applies "to all cases in which the action prosecuted is not to establish,
recover or redress private and civil rights, but to try and punish persons charged
with the commission of public oenses" and "a criminal case is an action, suit or
cause instituted to punish an infraction of the criminal laws, and, with this object in
view, it matters not in what form a statute may clothe it; it is still a criminal case . .
.". This view was, in eect conrmed in Lees vs. U.S. (37 L. ed. 1150-1151). Hence,
the Lawyers Reports Annotated (Vol. 29, p. 8), after an extensive examination of
pertinent cases, concludes that said constitutional provision applies whenever the
proceeding is not "purely remedial", or intended "as a redress for a private
grievance", but primarily to punish "a violation of duty or a public wrong and to
deter others from offending in a like manner . . ."
We are not unmindful of the doctrine laid down in Almeda vs. Perez, L-18428
(August 30, 1962) in which the theory that, after the ling of respondents' answer
to a petition for forfeiture under Republic Act No. 1379, said petition may not be
amended as to substance pursuant to our rules of criminal procedure, was rejected
by this Court upon the ground that said forfeiture proceeding is civil in nature. This
doctrine refers, however, to the purely procedural aspect of said proceeding, and has
no bearing on the substantial rights of the respondents therein, particularly their
constitutional right against self-incrimination.
WHEREFORE, the writ prayed for is granted and respondent Judge hereby enjoined
permanently from proceeding further in Criminal Case No. 60111 of the Court of
First Instance of Manila. It is so ordered.

Padilla, Bautista Angelo, Labrador, Reyes, J .B.L., Barrera, Paredes, Dizon, Regala and
Makalintal, JJ ., concur.
Bengzon, C . J ., is on leave.